I may be too wordy.


All throughout school, I was the one stressing not over meeting the word count on a paper, but rather limiting myself to the maximum word count allowance. And here I find myself again at 91 words over, and I have not yet written my conclusion.

I hate deleting words.

It's funny, too, because most people describe me as "quiet". Not on paper, I guess.

I'm working on credit 3 of 15, and can see an end in the distance. Come this December (prayerfully), both Gray and me will be finished with school. That's an abstract idea to grasp in my mind. We have been working at this for so long. Deterred by so many things:  Work, travel, finances, marriage--life, really. It's a big step in our path to the field; a big check on that list of things needing to be accomplished before we can be sent. And mentally, it will be a huge personal accomplishment for the both of us.

It is interesting how life can "get in the way", but at the same time, serve to better prepare us. I would never trade my experiences overseas, the opportunity to work in our church, marrying young to my best friend, or even the lessons we've learned through financial struggles, just to complete school sooner. Yes--it has delayed us in our path to the field. But we would not have been ready sooner, for we needed these "roadblocks" to prepare us.

Our path has stretched out much longer than anticipated. It is much, much rougher than I imagined. I'm thankful for both of these. Although there is such an urgency in my heart, one that rings true to the urgency of the Gospel in God's own heart, I know that He is taking His perfect time to make us ready, that we may be successful in the preaching of His Word.

It is hard waiting. It is so hard. Emotionally, some days it is such a bleak and distant thing in my mind. Will we ever get there? It has been so long already. Yet when I turn around, and glance instead to how far God has already brought us, I am sure--He is leading the way. He is walking with us. And He will get us there.

That is all that I desire, after all.